Umpires:
HP: Ryan Clark. 1B: Sean Ryan. 3B: Jeremie Rehak.
Weather:
70 degrees, sunny.
Wind: 15
mph, Out to RF.
T: 2:44.
Att:
4,126.
Section
203, Row P, Seat 21 – Typical location when I see the Baysox or Keys play,
section not too far to the right of home plate, on the aisle, two rows in front
of the concourse. Out of the sun, which didn’t matter much early but was a
disadvantage when the temperature dropped about 10 degrees and the wind kicked
up in the sixth inning.
Despite
the nice weather and the “Bark in the Park” promotion, attendance wasn’t
exactly great. The number of humans in the park seemed closer to half of the
announced attendance. Their canine friends were generally very well-behaved,
and were distributed throughout the stadium rather than having their own
special section.
Since the
game didn’t start until 2:05, I stopped at Nando’s in Silver Spring for lunch,
snacking on soft-serve ice cream and a soft pretzel as the afternoon went on.
As the
Bowie and Erie starting pitchers came in with records of 1-3, 8.03 and 0-4,
11.57, respectively, a slugfest seemed likely. The SeaWolves threatened in the
first with two singles and a walk but failed to score, while Bowie put two on
the board on a homer by Cuban defector Dariel Alvarez. (Keep an eye out for
that name.) Things slowed down for a while after that, as Erie managed one run
in the next 4 innings while the Baysox went 12 up and 12 down. After the
SeaWolves tied things up in the top of the sixth, Bowie broke the game open in
the bottom of the frame, starting with a 3-run homer by Christian Walker and
tacking on two more before the inning ended. The SeaWolves made things a little
interesting in the ninth by scoring two runs before a batter had been retired,
but a hard bouncer back to the pitcher was turned into a double play,
effectively ending the threat.
Thanks
largely to the long ball, the Baysox were extremely efficient throughout the
game, stranding only 3 baserunners. Somewhat oddly, none of their batters
struck out until the 8th inning.
Prior to
the game, as I was about to write down the starting lineups that were posted on
a white board near the entrance, I was astonished to find that the free game
program only had half of a scorecard, with space for one team but not the
other. There was a note below – “For a full scorecard, please stop by the
Baysox Fan Assistance Center on the 3rd base main concourse.” There
I found several piles of printed materials, including a scorecard that not only
had space for both teams, but thoughtfully had the starting lineups already
preprinted. There were also comprehensive game notes for each team (presumably
identical to those provided to the media), as well as rosters and stats. Quite
a nice package for the more geeky fans such as myself.